Excalibur
Excalibur is a magical item featured on ABC's Once Upon a Time. It first appears in the first episode of the fifth season. Excalibur is based on the item of the same from the Arthurian Legend. History In order to keep Nimue's darkness from threatening the realms, Merlin fashions the broken tip of Excalibur into a dagger, binding the Dark One to its control. As for the other part of the blade, Merlin embeds it in a rock, which can only to be pulled out from the kingdom's true ruler. Knowing of Excalibur's properties, Prince Charming inspires Snow White into standing up to the Evil Queen, in which he forges a fake Excalibur and urges her to prove herself as the kingdom's ruler by removing the weapon from a stone. After succeeding, a more confident Snow White refuses to give up the throne to the Evil Queen without waging war. Believing Prince Charming received Excalibur from the deal-maker Rumplestiltskin, she then summons him to pay the price for the arrangement only to learn the sword is fake. When Snow White confronts Prince Charming about his lies, she learns he did it as a means to help draw out her courage to challenge the Queen. In search of the sword that will prove the true ruler of Camelot as prophesied by Merlin himself, Arthur, along with Lancelot and Percival, go on a quest to find the Excalibur. They succeed in finding it, but not before Sir Kay does as well. He attempts to pull the sword to become king, but Exacalibur promptly turns his body into ash. Arthur succeeds with pulling out the sword, which makes him the ruler of Camelot, but he discovers the sword's blade tip is missing. Arthur chooses to keep this a secret from the kingdom, while deciding he must make Excalibur whole again. }} }} After stealing Happy's ax, Emma attempts to cut through the stone to free Excalibur, but instead, it breaks the ax. Rumplestiltskin tells her that only a hero can pull out the sword, and it wouldn't be her. Later, she kidnaps Mr. Gold and awakens him from his coma, with intentions of molding him into the hero she needs to unearth Excalibur. Having done her best to push Mr. Gold to his limit, Merida leaves him at a campsite with his wrists bound together, while she goes to get Emma. In her absence, he breaks the chipped cup, using one of its shards to cut himself free, before fleeing to the library, where he reunites with Belle. After the pair relocate to the pawnshop, they escape from Merida, who has been ordered by Emma to kill Belle, in the hopes of forcing Mr. Gold to be heroic. Later, when Belle realizes Mr. Gold cares more about running away to ensure his own survival than being brave by facing his fears, she parts ways from him. However, when her life is threatened by Merida, who ingested a transfiguration potion, Mr. Gold sacrifices himself to protect her. As the bear rears up to attack again, he braces himself for the blow, only to see the fallen potion, which he throws on the bear, who reverts to human. The trio return to Emma, and Mr. Gold agrees to pull out Excalibur, in exchange for Merida's heart and her brothers' whereabouts. After freeing Excalibur, he prepares to leave with Belle, but first, he warns Emma about her mistake in making him a hero. With both halves of Excalibur in her possession and the Flame of Prometheus, Emma can finally make Excalibur whole again. Before she can start, Nimue's spirit appears to witness the grand ceremony. Soon the spirits of every previous Dark One appear to encourage Emma do what none of her predecessors could do. She extracts an ember from the flame and uses it to forge the dagger and the blade as one again. She succeeds in making Excalibur whole, but before she can grab the ultimate weapon against the light, Emma thinks about how Merlin warned her not to do what she's doing, but Nimue and the other past Dark Ones convince her to take the power. }} Trivia |-|On-screen Notes= On-screen Notes *Mulan claims to own the most powerful sword in all the realms. However, it is Excalibur that is the most powerful. *Legends state only the kingdom's true ruler possesses the strength to free Excalibur from its stone. *There is a cross pattée on the bladeFile:501Surprise.png and the hilt.File:506TakesSword.png The Holy Grail, from which Excalibur was forged, was decorated with the same symbol.File:507TakesGrail.png |-|Production Notes= Production Notes *According to the episode script for "Skin Deep", a sword on display in Rumplestiltskin's castleFile:112WhenYouArrived.png was meant to be Excalibur.http://www.zen134237.zen.co.uk/Once_Upon_A_Time/Once_Upon_A_Time_1x12_-_%20Skin_Deep.pdf |-|Props Notes= Props Notes *The box used to contain the Flame of Prometheus' spark,File:508ClosesBox.png has the same pattern as the blade of Excalibur.File:508TwoNames.png Appearances References Category:Magic